Edo Ichi Japanese Restaurant got its name from the period when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Edo period 江戸時代, from 1603 to 1868. The Edo period was a period characterized with economic growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policies, environmental protection policies and the exponential growth in the appreciation for the arts and culture. Edo literally means estuary or bay entrance and is the former name of Tokyo, which is also the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate.

Established in the year 2001, twelve years down, with 16 individual restaurants and 5 different brand names, the Edo Ichi group’s success owes much to their insistence on upholding traditional Japanese dining cultures developed since the Edo period, practicing old and new food preparation methods and using fresh and good quality ingredients for their dishes.

Having been involved in the restaurant business that highly emphasizes on the importance of traditional dining cultures and the appreciation of the art of dining, Edo Ichi had in July 2013 through a simple dinner cum media conference at their Island Plaza (Penang) outlet, launched their “Edo Ichi & Friends” campaign to bring together personalities and craftsmen that share the same aspirations and appreciations for culture and arts and innovative thinking. The campaign aims at inviting and bringing in people that still practices ancient traditional craftsmanship, artists, creative thinkers and innovative creators to share and impart their knowledge and experience through various activities and programmes.

The first craftsman to join the campaign or movement was Martin Pauli, a contemporary master in handcrafted watch making from Switzerland. Martin founded Angular Momentum of Switzerland in 1995 with the vision to create and manufacture beautiful handmade timepieces, manufactured under inclusion of old technologies and traditional craft with the premise that no single part is made by CNC machines, not depending to suppliers and all working steps done through his personal hands.

He developed a fundamentally new system of time display, Revolving Disk (RDS), which has successfully replaced the classic watches with three-hands. Martin Pauli’s specialty is in decorating his hand crafted watches with art, age old traditional craft infused with newly developed methods; reverse painting on glass, gilding on glass, engraving on silver, gold, pearl, porcelain, etc. He is a mechanic, artisan, miniaturist, engraver, goldsmith and enamellist.

After the scrumptious Japanese dinner, we had an after-dinner-session over a bottle of warm sake, and here is an abstract from the informal Q&A we had with Edo Ichi’s PR representative founder of La Bibliotheque Du Temps, Mr. T.F. Chong:

Jason: Why did you invite Martin Pauli to join the “Edo Ichi & Friends” campaign?
PR: It was the timing; coincidentally Martin and I are planning to set-up a “Salon Metiers d’Art – La Bibliotheque Du Temps” in Malaysia. It will be a library cum gathering point for watch enthusiasts that will showcase handcrafted watches and a whole load of information and history related to watch making.

Jason: Why did Martin agree to join the campaign or movement?
PR: He shares a similar appreciation and admiration for the meticulous methods of preparation, art and culture behind the Japanese cuisine as that of Edo Ichi’s.

Jason: What will be the form of collaboration between Martin and Edo Ichi?
PR: Martin will allow Edo Ichi to use his images/art work and philosophy in the campaign to cross promote each other’s ideas, concept and aspirations.

Jason: Would these craftsmen and friends impart or share their skills to create new dishes for Edo Ichi?
PR: Depending on the possibilities as not all will be skilled in the culinary arts, but they will be sharing their ideas, concepts, philosophy and work ethics with Edo Ichi to improve in other areas as well.

Jason: Would Edo Ichi create a special dish or menu to introduce and celebrate the joining of new “friends” to the campaign?
PR: May be yes for future collaborations, but definitely not for now as time does not allow us to do so.

Jason: Would Edo Ichi create a Master Class for the public or its loyal customers to attend if the “friends” are from the culinary industry?
PR: It would be a good idea if time permits it.

Here is a glimpse of the dishes that were served to the media representatives that showcased some of Edo Ichi’s hand picked favourites and signatures:

The recent craze and hype for MyKuali’s Penang White Curry Noodles has brought us their headquarter where we were introduced not just to their famous instant noodle but also to their other range of products, ready to cook “Instant Pastes” used for preparing some of Penang’s local favourites like Sambal Seafood, Chicken Curry Kapitan, Chicken Satay, Hainanese Sour & Spicy Fish Curry and even a paste prepare Hainanese Chicken Rice. In addition to the local Penang flavours, MyKuali also has cooking pastes that caters to the Thai flavours with a Thai Chicken/Meat Curry paste and Thai Fish/Seafood Curry paste.

MyKuali is the house brand held by Sky Thomas Food Industries Sdn. Bhd., a subsidiary company to Sky Resources Group. It was formed to diversify its business in the consumer food and beverage industry, where they have found the niche in developing, manufacturing and supplying ready to cook instant cooking paste and instant noodles that represent some of the all time favourite flavours found in Penang and around Asia.

MyKuali’s selection of Penang and Asian Flavoured Instant Pastes are manufactured using natural ingredients, herbs and spices that are blended to optimise satisfaction of the general mass market taste preference and acceptability. Apart from striving to produce near authentic Penang and Asian flavours from natural ingredients, they also strive to provide simplicity in preparing sophisticated Penang and Asian dishes for home cooked meals that not only help saves time spent in the kitchen but also economical in terms of money and cents. And for those who reminiscences the homey tastes and aroma that bellows from their mother’s cooking, it provides some form of relief and comfort with ease. All these have been proven with “The Competition for Traditional Malaysian Ready-To-Cook Paste” organized by Matrade Malaysia Kitchen, where their Chicken/Meat Curry Kapitan paste has been selected as one of the 15 finalists in the ongoing competition.

Other than supplying to the retail market, MyKuali also supports the commercial sector like restaurants, hotels, cafes, caterers and etc with their 1kg commercial packs to maximise the economies of scale for their high-tech equipments acquired for the sole purpose of producing the best quality and consistent products to supply to the ever demanding food and beverage market. To further strengthen their market position, MyKuali has also invested vastly in research and development to produce new products and to enhance the current ranges. Thus, the market would be expecting some new items to be added to its current instant noodle range in the near future. Penang Hokkien Prawn Noodles and Tom Yam Noodles!

MyKuali’s instant noodle range is set apart from the common brands of noodles due to its insistence to include “Natural Paste” ingredients and seasoning. Take for instance their currently famous Penang White Curry Noodles, their first instant noodle product, which a packet of air dried noodle includes soup flavour seasoning, creamer and the most important Penang White Curry noodle chilli oil and paste. They try to replicate the original flavours produced by the famous Penang White Curry Noodle sold at the various hawker stalls in and around Penang, in sachets. It is that special blend of chilli and spices that gives that unique spicy, savoury yet sweet taste to a hot bowl of noodle. And not to forget the heat, it was the heat that got it into the spotlight after it was voted the 7th most spiciest instant noodle for the year 2013 by the “The Ramen Rater” blog. It is a first for a Malaysian made instant noodle product and brand.

MyKuali would be one of the newly minted Penang food and beverage brands that we will be paying attention to. Let’s see if they are able to create the same hype and interest with their other products like what they have achieved with their Penang White Curry Noodle instant noodle, and put Penang in the map for all the good reasons.

*For enquiries and information of places to purchase MyKuali’s products, please go to their Facebook Page or call them at +60 (4) 5022 529.

The interview/article was published in Vouch free magazine in November 2013.

The Cronut™ is a croissant-doughnut pastry developed by chef Dominique Ansel for Dominique Ansel Bakery in New York City, and in May 2013 the bakery trademarked the name. It is best described as a cross between the two, “Half Croissant, Half Doughnut” which is not made by simply frying croissant dough, but a type of laminated dough using a proprietary recipe that took chef Dominique Ansel two months and 10 recipes to create.

Cronuts are first proofed and then fried in grapeseed oil at a specific temperature. Once the cronuts are ready or served, do consume them immediately as they have a short shelf life. And if you intend to share, remember slice or cut them with a serrated knife, so as not to crush the fluffy and flaky layers of pastry. Refrigeration is not recommended as the humidity from the refrigerator will cause the pastry to go stale and soggy. It is best enjoyed at room temperature, but not warmed as it has a cream filling.

Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa is bringing the Cronut™ craze to Penang at their Rasa Deli situated in the Garden Wing of the resort with their very own version or interpretation, Croinut. Their Croinut comes in flavours that include a combination of fruits, tart, rich and creamy tastes. At current, they have successfully created six (6) of their own flavours, which include Toffee Orange, Lemon Raspberry, Chocolate Brownie, Apple Crumble, Nutella Banana and Vanilla Oreo.

Chocolate Brownie croinut, a simple combination that plays a straight hand of just the sweet and dark chocolaty flavour and rich creamy taste set forth by the cream fillings.

Vanilla Oreo croinut plays with the texture of flaky tender soft texture of the croinut and the firm and crunchy mouth feel of Oreo™ cookies. Vanilla cream delivers a flowery fragrance to this variety of croinut.

Priced at RM10 per piece, the croinuts are made fresh daily to preserve the tender soft flaky texture. And due to the complexity of preparation, only 100 pieces of it is made available daily from 3pm to 4pm at their Rasa Deli located in Rasa Sayang’s Rasa Wing.

Equipped with a business degree and “practically” trained by 1 Michelin Star (Wylie Du Fresne) and 3 Michelin Stars (Jean Georges Vongerichten) chefs, the German born Chef Tommes has currently made Penang its home base for culinary excellence and have created “That Little Wine Bar” and “Irrawaddy Fine Foods. Fellow food and wine connoisseurs that are constantly in search of good food and nice wine in Penang would not be foreign to “That Little Wine Bar“, especially.

To add another feather to Chef Tommes’ hat of achievement would be the soon to be aired Asian Food Channel original programme, Chalk & Cheese. The show’s first episode is set to be broadcast at 9:00pm on the 20th of February 2012. Tommes who is the resident chef on the 12-episode cooking programme is paired with JoJo Struys to bring the audiences on a gastronomic tour of Malaysia while introducing local ingredients and sharing the untold tips and tricks of how professional chefs prepare and cook myriads of appealing dishes.

Chalk & Cheese’s concept is to take two rather diverse personalities (one that is a trained chef and one that has zero cooking experience) and throw them into a kitchen, exploring the various natural ingredients found in Malaysia and imparting some cooking knowledge with some trick of the trade at the same time. The interaction between Chef Tommes and his co-host will also leave a fit of laughter that is sure to entertain those who normally associate cooking shows as “boring”.

In each episode, Chef Tommes will use and explain one locally available ingredient, such as bamboo, strawberries, ginger and senduduk (an Asian herb with medicinal properties), and shows JoJo how to prepare exquisite dishes with them, including roast lamb with bamboo heart confit, scones with strawberry jam, black and white sesame tuna with ginger marinade, and senduduk chicken. Some of these dishes will be available at That Little Wine Bar on the week when the respective recipes are shared and aired. Now it is no longer a 2D cooking show, it is now a 3-dimensional cooking programme that lets you see, hear and also taste. Dinners would need to watch out for the episode or menu updates on TLWB’s Facebook or in-house menu boards.

Hakka cuisine concentrates on the texture of food, simplicity and the umami (旨味) or savoury flavour of the dish. As like other dishes or cuisines, Hakka cuisine is influence by the attributes of the environment were they settled down or has it roots from, which is one of the reasons behind the variety of dishes and flavours that are synonymous to Hakka cuisine. The Hakka’s has provided to the public at large some their more famous dishes that are dished our in restaurants across Malaysia, China and whole wide world, some of these dishes are your common ‘Yong Taufu’(釀豆腐)or stuffed bean curd, ‘Yim Guk Gai’ (鹽焗雞) or Salt Baked Chicken, Poon Choy (盆菜), ‘Suin Poon Tzi’ (算盘子) or Abacus beads and lots more.

A few weeks ago on the 10th of December we had an opportunity to document the making of ‘Hakka Abacus Beads’ by a new entrepreneur, Ms. Lai Sze Ying, in Kuala Lumpur. It is one of the ways that we try to do our part to keep the diverse heritage and culture of food that we have a live for our future generation. By doing so, we also hope to help budding food providers that are making delicacies the way it should to grow and spread the wonders of old school food.

This post I will introduce the making of ‘Suin Poon Tzi’ (算盘子) or Abacus Beads. Abacus Beads are made from freshly mashed Yam which is then combined with tapioca flour to form the dough that is cut and rolled into the shape of an abacus bead. The difference between the traditional and current abacus bead is the content of Yam and the final abacus bead shape. The算盘子/ abacus when cooked has a soft on the outside and chewy on the inside texture, which could be served stir fry or in soup. The common popular version would be stir frying with either of the following ingredients; minced pork or chicken, dried shrimps, mushrooms, ‘choy poh’, black wood ear, etc.

Before the dough is form to make the ‘Suin Poon Tzi’ (算盘子), Yam is cooked to a consistency that allows it to be mash up like when one make mash potato.

After the Yam is cooked to the required consistency, it is roughly mashed and then combined with tapioca flour to form the dough base which will be knead, cut and rolled to shape.

Before the Yam cools down, the Yam and Tapioca flour mixture is traditionally hand kneaded until it forms the firm dough.

After the Yam dough is finally formed, it is then divided into smaller section to work with. The smaller section are rolled into a strand which then cut to size and form into the shape of a abacus bead, which round in shape.

Next, a small puncture or stamp is made with chopstick in the middle of each formed abacus bead. This the part which differentiates the product produced by this new comer to the F&B industry from the common abacus beads suppliers in the market. And it is because of the near authenticity that we were greatly interested to document and introduce this budding entrepreneur that met through our acquaintance in KL.

After the abacus beads were ready formed and mark with the distinctive nod in the centre, it is then moved to the cooking pot or wok in this case to be thoroughly cooked with just simple clean boiling water, and then blenched in cold or running water to give it that springy and chewy texture.

The end product is the drained and is ready to be stir fry with you choice ingredients.

It has been a week since my last day of employment with my previous job as an Area Manager for a German Lubricant company. And I guess it is time to get back on track with our postings and also daily work and responsibilities as business owners. In fact we have been hibernating for the past few weeks to recollect our thoughts and re-chart our future plans and directions for our business, which involves Business Marketing Management, Restaurant Marketing, Web Applications and Business Outsourcing, and our food reviewing methods, blogging styles and also photography skills.

We actually started our food blog way back on the 18th of August 2006, but due to our work load and commitments it was rather irregular, not until May last year(2008) that we begin to put in more time and effort on our blog. In our ‘about us’ page, we have introduced ourselves, our blog and our expectations in our food blog. In fact, we find that we are more of a food critic than just a food promoting blogger. From past postings, we try our very best to provide critical, actual and factual observations and experiences and anything related to food. When we first venture into food blogging it was more of a hobby for me and my wife, but then we found that there are still a lot of space for growth in our local food scene. Thus, our direction changed and we hope that our blog could bring up the standards of the culinary quality in Penang and if possible Malaysia by sharing good and bad experiences that we have encountered.

Many or some may wonder why did we chose the blog url with a ‘.com.my’. Well we have two(2) registered business licences since March 2006, and one of them is Gourmet Garden which we initially wanted to use to set up our own restaurant, but luck has it money was the problem. Any person who is into blogging or net surfing would know that to get a ‘.com.my’ domain and it would need to have a registered business licence in Malaysia. Our plans have not changed but just merely delayed.

Occasionally, people do ask us whether we are blogging for money or blogging for fun. My answer is neither! Our blog is more of a tool for us to gain exposure and also an ice breaker of sort. By saying this, there will be doubts that what we blog about aren’t factual or non-bias, we would let our past and future reviews speak for themselves. At least we can say that we do not sugar coat or give fictional accounts just to promote and publicise any restaurateurs for a quick buck. Or to induce higher traffic flow to our blog the get more money. But then our profession or business scope is to assist the below average restaurateurs to create more revenue and brand name through our services that are catered to make-over and improve the food quality and service standards that will give the businesses profitability in the long-run. In fact it would be a conflict of interest to be a food critic and marketer, but the objective of our food blog and business shares a same mission that is to improve and upgrade the food quality and service standards. Thus, we still will be neutral in our reviews so the community will get quality information on good food finds and suggestions from our preference and thoughts.

We would like to emphasise that there will be no hidden agendas or motives in our reviews or entries, all reviews will be professionally done without any biasness. We pray that GOD is watching on us and will help us in our every day life, we also pray that every meal that we have is as enjoyable and savoury like home cooked meals prepared with passion and flavours. We also hope that we will be able to taste and experience delicacies that the world has to offer, and to continue blogging without prejudice and politicking.

After much talk by my father-in-law, we finally tried out this joint! This KoayTeowTh’ng with homemade fish balls is situated in this kopitiam along JalanBurmah, just after the turn in from Penang Road. The kopitiam name is HaiOan, which is also famous for its ‘chu char’ and Hainanese chicken chop.

The KoayTeowTh’ng(KTT) is actually a family business, that still sees the mother a her two sons still running this family trade. The main outlet is situated at the corner shop, HengSeng Coffee Shop, off Lebuh Armenian and JalanMasjidKapitanKeling(formerly known as Pitt Street). This outlet opens from 10:00am to 4:40pm daily except for Sunday and Monday.

The outlet we visited was the one at HaiOan, which is being run by the one of the sons and his wife. This outlet is open for business from 8:00AM to 2:00PM daily except Mondays. It was only last Sunday we visited this makan stall after Sunday Service. After having a light breakfast at LorongMacalister, we were not satisfied with the quality of food there, thus we decided to go for a second round. Or you could had our lunch at breakfast time. Hahaha….

What is so famous about this KTT business, is actually their homemade fish balls. But for Gill and me, their uniqueness doesn’t stop there. As our usual self, we stood there for sometime and observed the goings of the business, then finally I asked the wife and sister what is their specialty there. To my surprise they told me not only the fish balls are their specialty, even their mince pork patties are hand made. This I must try, because I have been searching high and low for the kind of mince pork patties that have eluded me for so many years.

When I was still living in Rifle Range, we use to get KTT from a stall opposite the Air Itam market for breakfast on certain Sundays. The stall was located next to the alley way, but during our recent food hunt last Monday, I found out that it has already disappeared. The taste and texture of the mince meat patties is still in my memories, juicy tender patties cooked to just the right with the optimum composition of fats and meat. The closes that I can get now is in Breikfeilds in KL, Peter Chu Yuk Fun.

The KTT soup served at HaiOan is very light, but with the condiments of fried garlic bits and pork lard it is immediately transformed. Even the soya sauce dip is specially concocted with raw garlic, chilies and a special type of soy. I know the brand of the soya sauce from their description, but I obliged not to reveal. We used to use it at home when my mom was still around with us. It was her favourite. The way to best try the bowl of KTT is to first take it as it come without dipping in the soya sauce, you will experience the sweetness and freshness contained in the fish balls and minced pork pattie. After a few mouthful, then you may take it with the special soya sauce. That will be another taste experience from the same bowl that you had. The garlic and chilly gives it an extra punch for those who enjoy heavier taste KTT.

Other than KTT, they also serve ‘Kon Lo Bihun‘ (dry rice vermicelli in dark soya sauce). We got to know that to maintain the quality or texture of the bihun, they have opted to use individually packed bihun rather than the commercial and cheaper packed bihun. Much care was put in preparing the bowl of ‘Kon Lo Bihun‘, they poached and mixed the bihun in their sauce and left it to sit for while to let the bihun soaked up the sauces before serving to us. Every strain of the bihun was coated with their sauce. The texture was fine and aroma fragrant like fried bihun minus the frying. It is a must try also!Buy looking at the fried pork lard, you can also that the business owner really take pride in their business and work. They only used the centre piece of fats without the hard skin surface and the coarse part which is attached to the meaty part. Thus, is was crispy, smooth and fragrant without the bitter taste and rough texture. My favourite! The garlic bits were also fried to just the right consistancy. We did even found a bit burnt garlic. The garlic and lard provided the otherwise light soup, rich and smokey taste. Don’t worry! Once in a while won’t kill you!

Why should they take pride of their business and food, is because everything is hand made. The fish balls are made from a species of eel that is found here.

The fish balls starts from this fish.

The fishes is pain stakingly being de-boned. Only the vertebrae is de-boned at this stage.

Then the fish fillets are passed through this machine to separate the skin and small bones.

After the fish fillets are de-boned and de-skinned, it put through and special blending machine to start the mashing process. After the fish meat is blended and starts to produce the sticky substance to make the fish mash hold up togather, it is then hand moulded to your every day fish balls.

Even the minced pork meat are hand press to form the patties that are served there. Every individual piece shares the same thickness and consistency. Nice!

On average, I would give this place:

4.5/5 for value (hand made and much care is taken to prepare the fish balls and pork patties)

Interviewed By Kwong Wah

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The criticisms, opinions and grading expressed here are entirely based on our personal experience, professional observations and taste preference at the time of dining, thus may vary from the views and comments of others.

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